


If It Ain't You

by Schwoozie



Series: And Baby Makes Four [10]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombies, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 06:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8238748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schwoozie/pseuds/Schwoozie
Summary: Rick comes home from work and finds a very pregnant Beth taking a nap. What can he do but join her?





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a riff on "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys.

Rick stands at the door of the bedroom, watching Beth sleep. The room is dark despite the afternoon light pushing at the shades, but his eyes are adjusted enough that he can see her clearly: her back turned towards the door, legs pulled into her body and her arm draped over a pillow. That last bit makes him smile. Sometimes he's found her with a pillow between her arms and one at her back and he knows she's compensating for Rick and Daryl's missing weight.

The sheet is pulled to the top of her ribcage but he can picture what it hides: her stomach swelling out beneath her shirt (one of Rick's old gym shirts—he can recognize it from the back), holding her baby. His baby. Daryl's baby. Their baby.

Rick knows he shouldn't disturb her sleep—he remembers how much Lori napped when she was pregnant with Carl—but he doesn't know if he can watch the rise and fall of her breathing without feeling it for much longer.

He moves into the room, closing the door to just a gap, and takes off his uniform as quietly as possible. Beth doesn't even move, so he knows she must be out of it. Once he's down to his boxers he walks towards the bed and slips in behind her, settling into the pillow with a soft sigh. He looks at her close up for a few moments—the back of her head, her hair loose, smelling clean and fresh from the shower—before moving closer and folding his arm around her.

He could go for her pussy but he doesn't feel like that right now; lays his hand over her ribcage to feel the rise and fall of her breath, then moves his hand farther, sliding below her breasts where they lie loose beneath the shirt and finding it—the swell of her stomach, still a shock after three years of her tiny body against his, against Daryl's. Her stomach has grown rapidly the past few weeks and she tries to hide herself but Rick loves it—he loved it when it happened to Lori and he loves it now. Loves how all her edges seem softer, how delicate her skin feels stretched over her insides. He doesn't reach beneath the shirt but he lets his fingers drift, tracing imaginary lines against her stomach.

It's now that she stirs, making those small mumbling noises he loves as she sinks back against him, reaches for his hand and tangles her fingers with his. Rick's heartbeat is almost painful as he gathers her closer, burying his face in her hair and breathing in deep.

“Who is it?” Beth mumbles, and Rick chuckles, kissing the back of her head.

“Lestat has come for you at last,” he says, and she snorts softly, wiggling her shoulders like she wants him to let go but he just holds her tighter.

“Shut up,” she says, still sleep-slurred but a little clearer. After a few moments she sighs and begins to turn; Rick draws back to give her room as she rolls onto her back, rubbing her eyes with her wrist. “Please don't tell me it's 8:00 again.”

“Just 3:00. You're alright.” Rick kisses her temple, the rise of her cheek, and when he pulls back she's looking at him, blue eyes startlingly clear. “When'd you fall asleep?”

She looks at the ceiling, then chuckles. “You know, I don't even remember. Daryl left for work and I just... didn't feel like doing anything. I know we need groceries–“

“You don't worry about that,” Rick says.

She gives him a look. “Rick–“

“No,” he says. His hand has been on her stomach this whole time, but now he presses down, rubbing gently. “This is all you gotta deal with.” He kisses her lips softly, speaks against them. “That's why you wanted two of us, right?”

Beth laughs, seemingly in spite of herself. She turns again so she's lying on her side facing him, her stomach between them. Rick finally relinquishes his hold on it, letting his arm drape across her hip as she settles in, doing the adorable wiggle she does when she's trying to get comfortable. She's so far along he has to bend at the waist to keep himself close to her, but he doesn't mind. He can tell she hasn't brushed her teeth yet today, but he just got off a 12 hour shift without a shower, so he figures neither of them have cause for complaint.

Plus. It's like Daryl said, early in their relationship. Beth had only been by a few times by then; still hadn't spent the night, but she spent enough time that they woke up with their bed smelling like her, like each other. Daryl had leaned in to kiss Rick only to be pushed gently away; _Morning breath_ , Rick said to Daryl's questing look. But Daryl pushed forward and kissed Rick anyway; kissed him silly, kissed him breathless, and when they were done and Rick was trying to get his pulse under control Daryl said he could give a fuck about morning breath; said it was something just for them, that he liked that.

 _Daryl's a poet when he wants to be_ , Rick thinks as he raises himself onto one elbow, resting his cheek on his palm as his other hand brushes the hair from Beth's face. She hasn't gained much weight besides her stomach, but her face is still a little fuller, her cheeks more plump, her eyes holding a glimmer he's only ever seen these past few months. Daryl had scoffed when Maggie once greeted Beth by complimenting her “pregnancy glow.” Daryl said she didn't look any different than she always did, besides the obvious; but Rick isn't sure. As the days pass and this whole thing gets more and more real she's seemed different to him. Softer, and not just her body. Something in her coming to life, the same thing he saw when she held Judith for the first time. He wonders if she's even aware of it.

But he doesn't want to talk about that now. It's too complicated for three in the afternoon, with him just home from work and her just waking.

So he doesn't say it. Just leans in and whispers against her full cheek how beautiful she is; ignores the light slap she lands on his chest to kiss her temple, her jaw, her neck, feel that delicious shiver run through her when he hones in on just the right spot.

“Rick, no,” Beth moans, pushing at him weakly. “I'm not supposed to do that anymore, remember?”

“You aren't supposed to come,” Rick says into her collarbone, nipping it gently. “The doctor didn't say anything about kissing.”

“Yeah, but that makes me horny,” she all but whines, and Rick grins against her skin before settling back into the pillow, laughing at the pout on her face.

“Poor Beth and her blue balls.”

“Hey, don't you talk. You're lucky I didn't make you and Daryl swear off that too.”

“We'd never be decent for work if you did that, sweetie,” Rick says.

Beth rolls her eyes but she's smiling too, big and full of teeth and Rick can't help kissing that smile, keeping it as chaste as he can but not being able to resist a nip on her lower lip as he pulls away.

“You're terrible,” Beth says.

“You love it,” Rick says.

“You're lucky I do, mister.”

Rick laughs, but he can feel the drag of sleep pulling at him. His eyelids flutter and he sighs, pulling her as close as he can.

“I am lucky,” he murmurs, squeezing her hip and slotting his head under her chin, cheek resting on her collarbone.

“Rick, c'mon, I have to get up.”

“No you don't.”

“I do! I–“

“Just till I fall asleep?”

Beth pauses, considering. She sighs and Rick knows he's won. She cards her hand into his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp.

“Fine. But if I fall back asleep too I'm blaming you.”

“Fair,” Rick mumbles.

It's all he knows as he slips under. The familiar scent of their bed, of them. The warm weight of her against him. Her lips feather light on his brow and her stomach full to bursting, of both of them. All of them.

He knows from experience that moments like these will be few and far between very soon. But he'll cherish them while he can.

He'll cherish her.

 


End file.
